Himalayan Journals, vol 2 by J. D. Hooker (great reads TXT) 📖

14,000 feet, and half an inch of rain at Tungu;* [An inch and a half fell at Dorjiling during the same period.] the former soon melted,

and I made an excursion to Chomiomo on the following day, hoping to reach the lower line of perpetual snow. Ascending the valley of the Chomiochoo, I struck north up a steep slope, that ended in a spur of vast tabular masses of quartz and felspar, piled like slabs in a

stone quarry, dipping south-west 5 degrees to 10 degrees, and

striking north-west. These resulted from the decomposition of gneiss, from which the layers of mica bad been washed away, when the rain and frost splitting up the fragments, the dislocation is continued to a great depth into the substance of the rock.

Large silky cushions of a forget-me-not grew amongst the rocks,

spangled with beautiful blue flowers, and looking like turquoises set in silver: the Delphininin glaciale* [This new species has been

described for the "Flora Indica" of Dr. Thomson and myself: it is a remarkable plant, very closely resembling, and as it were

representing, the D. Brunonianum of the western Himalaya.

The latter plant smells powerfully of musk, but not so disagreeably as this does.] was also abundant, exhaling a rank smell of musk.

It indicates a very great elevation in Sikkim, and on my ascent far above it, therefore, I was not surprised to find water boil at 182.6

degrees (air 43 degrees), which gives an altitude of 16,754 feet.

A dense fog, with sleet, shut out all view; and I did not know in

what direction to proceed higher, beyond the top of the sharp, stony ridge I had attained. Here there was no perpetual snow, which is to be accounted for by the nature of the surface facilitating its

removal, the edges of the rocks which project through the snow,

becoming heated, and draining off the water as it melts.

During my stay at Tungu, from the 23rd to the 30th of July, no day

passed without much deposition of moisture, but generally in so light a form that throughout the whole time but one inch was registered in the rain-gauge; during the same time four inches and a half of rain fell at Dorjiling, and three inches and a half at Calcutta. The mean temperature was 50 degrees (max. 65 degrees, min. 40.7 degrees);

extremes, 65/38 degrees. The mean range (23.3 degrees) was thus much greater than at Dorjiling, where it was only 8.9 degrees.

A thermometer, sunk three feet, varied only a few tenths from 57.6

degrees. By twenty-five comparative observations with Calcutta,

1 degree Fahr. is the equivalent of every 362 feet of ascent; and

twenty comparative observations with Dorjiling give 1 degree for

every 340 feet. The barometer rose and fell at the same hours as at lower elevations; the tide amounting to 0.060 inch, between 9.50 a.m.

and 4 p.m.

I left Tungu on the 30th of July, and spent that night at Tallum;

where a large party of men had just arrived, with loads of madder,

rice, canes, bamboos, planks, etc., to be conveyed to Tibet on yaks and ponies.* [About 300 loads of timber, each of six planks, are said to be taken across the Kongra Lama pass annually; and about 250 of

rice, besides canes, madder, bamboos, cottons, cloths, and

Symplocos leaves for dyeing. This is, no doubt, a considerably

exaggerated statement, and may refer to both the Kongra Lama and

Donkia passes.] On the following day I descended to Lamteng,

gathering a profusion of fine plants by the way.

The flat on which I had encamped at this place in May and June, being now a marsh, I took up my abode for two days in one of the houses,

and paid the usual penalty of communication with these filthy people; for which my only effectual remedy was boiling all my garments and

bedding. Yet the house was high, airy, and light; the walls composed of bamboo, lath, and plaster.

Tropical Cicadas ascend to the pine-woods above Lamteng in this

month, and chirp shrilly in the heat of the day; and glow-worms fly about at night. The common Bengal and Java toad, Bufo scabra,

abounded in the marshes, a remarkable instance of wide geographical distribution, for a Batrachian which is common at the level of the

sea under the tropics.

On the 3rd of August I descended to Choongtam, which I reached on the 5th. The lakes on the Chateng flat (alt. 8,750 feet) were very full, and contained many English water-plants;* [_Sparganium ramosum,

Eleocharis palustris, Scirpus triqueter, and _Callitriche verna?

Some very tropical genera ascend thus high; as Paspalum amongst

grasses, and Scleria, a kind of sedge.] the temperature of the

water was 92 degrees near the edges, where a water-insect

(Notonecta) was swimming about.

Below this I passed an extensive stalactitic deposit of lime, and a second occurred lower down, on the opposite side of the valley. The apparently total absence of limestone rocks in any part of Sikkim

(for which I made careful search), renders these deposits, which are far from unfrequent, very curious. Can the limestone, which appears in Tibet, underlie the gneiss of Sikkim? We cannot venture to assume that these lime-charged streams, which in Sikkim burst from the steep flanks of narrow mountain spurs, at elevations between 1000 and 7000

feet, have any very remote or deep origin. If the limestone be not

below the gneiss, it must either occur intercalated with it, or be

the remains of a formation now all but denuded in Sikkim.

Terrific landslips had taken place along the valley, carrying down

acres of rock, soil, and pine-forests, into the stream. I saw one

from Kampo Samdong, on the opposite flank of the valley, which swept over 100 yards in breadth of forest. I looked in vain for any signs of scratching or scoring, at all comparable to that produced by

glacial action. The bridge at the Tuktoong, mentioned at chapter xix, being carried away, we had to ascend for 1000 feet (to a place where the river could be crossed) by a very precipitous path, and descend on the opposite side. In many places we had great difficulty in

proceeding, the track being obliterated by the rains, torrents, and landslips. Along the flats, now covered with a dense rank vegetation, we waded ankle, and often knee, deep in mud, swarming with leeches; and instead of descending into the valley of the now too swollen

Lachen, we made long detours, rounding spurs by canes and bamboos

suspended from trees.

At Choongtam the rice-fields were flooded: and the whole flat was a marsh, covered with tropical grasses and weeds, and alive with

insects, while the shrill cries of cicadas, frogs and birds, filled the air. Sand-flies, mosquitos, cockroaches, and enormous

cockchafers,* [Eucerris Griffithii, a magnificent species.

Three very splendid insects of the outer ranges of Sikkim never

occurred in the interior: these are a gigantic Curculio (Calandra) a wood-borer; a species of Goliath-beetle, Cheirotonus Macleaii,

and a smaller species of the same rare family, _Trigonophorus

nepalensis_; of these the former is very scarce, the latter extremely abundant, flying about at evenings; both are flower-feeders, eating honey and pollen. In the summer of 1848, the months at Dorjiling were well marked by the swarms of peculiar insects that appeared in

inconceivable numbers; thus, April was marked by a great black

Passalus, a beetle one-and-a-half inch long, that flies in the face and entangles itself in the hair; May, by stag-beetles and

longicorns; June, by Coccinella (lady-birds), white moths, and

flying-bugs; July, by a Dryptis? a long-necked carabideous insect; August, by myriads of earwigs, cockroaches, Goliath-beetles, and

cicadas; September, by spiders.] Mantis, great locusts,

grasshoppers, flying-bugs, crickets, ants, spiders, caterpillars, and leeches, were but a few of the pests that swarmed in my tent and made free with my bed. Great lazy butterflies floated through the air;

Thecla and Hesperides skipped about, and the great Nymphalidae

darted around like swallows. The venomous black cobra was common, and we left the path with great caution, as it is a lazy reptile, and

lies basking in the sun; many beautiful and harmless green snakes,

four feet long, glided amongst the bushes. My dogs caught a "Rageu,"*

["Ragoah," according to Hodgson: but it is not the _Procapra

picticaudata_ of Tibet.] a very remarkable animal, half goat and half deer; the flesh was good and tender, dark-coloured, and lean.

I remained here till the 15th of August,* [Though 5 degrees further north, and 5,268 feet above the level of Calcutta, the mean

temperature at Choongtam this month was only 12. degrees cooler than at Calcutta; forty observations giving 1 degree Fahr. as equal to 690

feet of elevation; whereas in May the mean of twenty-seven

observations gave 1 degree Fahr. as equal to 260 feet, the mean

difference of temperature being then 25 degrees. The mean maximum of the day was 80 degrees, and was attained at 11 a.m., after which

clouds formed, and the thermometer fell to 66 degrees at sunset, and 56 degrees at night. In my blanket tent the heat rose to upwards of 100 degrees in calm weather. The afternoons were generally squally

and rainy.] arranging my Lachen valley collections previous to

starting for the Lachoong, whence I hoped to reach Tibet again by a different route, crossing the Donkia pass, and thence exploring the sources of the Teesta at the Cholamoo lakes.

Whilst here I ascertained the velocity of the currents of the Lachen and Lachoong rivers. Both were torrents, than which none could be

more rapid, short of becoming cataracts: the rains were at their

height, and the melting of the snows at its maximum. I first measured several hundred yards along the banks of each river above the

bridges, repeating this several times, as the rocks and jungle

rendered it very difficult to do it accurately: then, sitting on the bridge, I timed floating masses of different materials and sizes that were thrown in at the upper point. I was surprised to find the

velocity of the Lachen only nine miles per hour, for its waters

seemed to shoot past with the speed of an arrow, but the floats

showed the whole stream to be so troubled with local eddies and

backwaters, that it took from forty-three to forty-eight seconds for each float to pass over 200 yards, as it was perpetually submerged by under-currents. The breadth of the river averaged sixty-eight feet, and the discharge was 4,420 cubic feet of water per second.

The temperature was 57 degrees.

At the Lachoong bridge the jungle was still denser, and the banks

quite inaccessible in many places. The mean velocity was eight miles an hour, the breadth ninety-five feet, the depth about the same as

that of the Lachen, giving a discharge of 5,700 cubic feet of water per second;* [Hence it appears that the Lachoong, being so much the more copious stream, should in one sense be regarded as the

continuation of the Teesta, rather than the Lachen, which, however, has by far the most distant source. Their united streams discharge

upwards of 10,000 cubic feet of water per second in the height of the rains! which is, however, a mere fraction of the discharge of the

Teesta when that river leaves the Himalaya. The Ganges at Hurdwar

discharges 8000 feet per second during the dry season.] its

temperature was also 57 degrees. These streams retain an

extraordinary velocity, for many miles upwards; the Lachen to its

junction with the Zemu at 9000 feet, and the Zemu itself as far up as the Thlonok, at 10,000 feet, and the Lachoong to the village of that name, at 8000 feet: their united streams appear equally rapid till

they become the Teesta at Singtam.* [The slope of the bed of the